Over the years, our Emerging Professionals have been giving back and building community through community services projects and more. Check out what we’ve been up to over the years!
Work Days at Fresh Starts Community Garden
Starting in 2020, our Emerging Professionals have been volunteering at the Fresh Starts Community Garden, which is located in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. Volunteers have helped clean up in and around the garden, weed and mulch. And of course they’ve networked over donuts and enjoyed time with the Fresh Starts Community Garden founder, Rosie Willis.
Tour of Missouri S&T’s Solar Village
In 2018, Emerging Professionals met in St. Louis and carpooled to Rolla, Missouri for a tour of Missouri University of Science and Technology Solar Village which features several homes designed and built for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon.
Weatherization with Energy Care
For the past several years, Emerging Professionals have spent a Saturday in December weatherizing with EnergyCare. This St. Louis area non profit works to protect low-income, homebound people—especially the elderly, and seriously ill or physically disabled adults and children—from illness, hospitalization or death from summer heat or winter cold. Weatherization improves comfort, and reduces energy consumption, and the associated energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Three cheers to our Emerging Professionals for their hard work!
Material Reuse Station at EarthDance Farms
On Saturday August 13, 2016 Emerging Professionals gathered at EarthDance Organic Farm School. Our EPs had worked throughout the summer to design a materials reuse station for the farm and that morning they got to work constructing it!
The farm had an abundance of materials that could be reused, but prior to the service day they were jumbled and unorganized. After a day of hard work, the Emerging Professionals left the farm with a station to sort and protect resources for future use. Three cheers for their ingenuity, hard work and service!
Tour of National Great Rivers Research & Education Center, Lunch at Old Bakery Brewing Company
Emerging Professionals toured the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center (NGRREC), followed by lunch at Old Bakery Beer Company in Alton, Illinois.
The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC), a division of Lewis and Clark Community College, is dedicated to the study of great river systems and the communities that use them. The center’s Jerry F. Costello Confluence Field Station in Alton, Illinois, serves as a model of green construction, with minimal environmental impact, integrated renewable energy systems, and internal recycling systems. The center earned LEED Gold Certification in 2015. You can learn more about the building here.
Old Bakery Beer Company incorporates sustainable practices like sourcing local food, composting food waste, and prioritizing energy efficiency. All their beer is USDA Certified Organic.
Little Free Libraries for Ford Elementary
In 2015, Emerging Professionals spent Green Apple Day of Service at Perennial constructing 3 Little Free Libraries out of reclaimed materials.
The Libraries were headed to the hallways of Ford Elementary, a St. Louis Public school in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood. Emerging Professionals then collecting children’s books to stock these libraries.